Preamble

The House met at Eleven o'Clock

PRAYERS

[Mr. SPEAKER in the Chair]

DEATHS OF MEMBERS

Mr. Speaker: I regret to have to inform the House of the deaths of Sir Edward Taswell Campbell, Baronet, Member for the Borough of Bromley; Leslie Ruthven Pym, Esquire, Member for the County of Monmouth (Monmouth Division); and Alfred James Dodds, Esquire, Member for the Borough of Smethwick, and I desire on behalf of the House to express our sense of the loss we have sustained, and our sympathy with the relatives of the honourable Members.

HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT (PLACES OF SITTING)

Message to attend the Lords Commissioners.

The House went, and having returned

Mr. Speaker reported that the Lords Commissioners under the Great Seal for opening and holding this Parliament had made a communication to both Houses, and read it to the House as follows:

"My Lords and Members of the House of Commons, We have it further in Command from His Majesty to acquaint you that the causes of His Majesty's calling this Parliament will be declared to you on the 15th day of this instant August, in the Chamber assigned to the House of Commons as their temporary place of sitting, and not in the present Parliamentary Chamber, and that, for this purpose, His Majesty has directed the Chamber assigned to the House of Commons as their temporary place of sitting to be made ready for the House of Peers, and St. Stephen's Hall for the House of Commons.

And, we have it further in Command from His Majesty to declare that it is His Majesty's pleasure that, as soon as may be after the causes of the calling of this Parliament have been declared, the Chamber assigned to the House of Commons as their temporary place of sitting be again made ready for the House of Commons for the better and more convenient transacting of their business, and that His Majesty has been pleased to give directions accordingly."

MEMBERS SWORN

Mr. Speaker: The swearing in of Members will now be continued. If there are any Privy Councillors or ex-Ministers who have not yet taken the oath, they will take it first, and I shall then call upon other Members, according to the Benches which they occupy. Assuming that all the Members in attendance have been sworn in by one o'clock I will leave the Chair then, and resume the Chair at half-past two o'clock, when I understand there are some Motions to be moved.

The following Members took and subscribed the Oath, or made and subscribed the Affirmation required by Law:

Right honourable Sir John Anderson, G.C.B., G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E., the University of St. Andrew's, the University of Glasgow, the University of Aberdeen, and the University of Edinburgh.
Kenneth Martin Lindsay, esquire, the University of Durham, the Victoria University of Manchester, the University of Liverpool, the University of Leeds, the University of Sheffield, the University of Birmingham, the University of Bristol, and the University of Reading.
Robert Richards, esquire, County of Denbigh (Wrexham Division).
Charles William Key, esquire, Borough of Poplar (Bow and Bromley Division).
Walter James Edwards, esquire, Borough of Stepney (Whitechapel and St. George's Division).
John Dugdale, esquire, Borough of West Bromwich.
Clarice McNab Shaw, County of Ayr and Bute (Kilmarnock Division).
Major Arthur Leslie Symonds, Borough of Cambridge.
Lieutenant-Colonel Roland Hamilton, O.B.E., County of West Suffolk (Sudbury Division).


Albert Ernest Stubbs, esquire, County of Cambridge.
Stanley Norman Evans, esquire, Borough of Wednesbury.
Captain Francis Edward Noel-Baker, County of Middlesex (Brentford and Chiswick Division).
Richard Howard Stafford Crossman, esquire, Borough of Coventry (East Division).
Edith Agnes Wills, Borough of Birmingham (Duddeston Division).
Arthur Creech Jones, esquire, County of York, West Riding (Shipley Division).
Ralph Morley, esquire, Borough of Southampton.
Thomas Lewis, esquire, Borough of Southampton.
Walter Fletcher, esquire, O.B.E., Borough of Bury.
Alfred Charles Bossom, esquire, County of Kent (Maidstone Division).
Isaac James Pitman, esquire, Borough of Bath.
Flight-Lieutenant William Teeling, Borough of Brighton.
Captain Malcolm Bullock, M.B.E., County of Lancaster (Waterloo Division).
Major William Walter Montagu Douglas Scott, commonly called Lord William Scott, County of Roxburgh and Selkirk.
Gordon Cosmo Touche, esquire, County of Surrey (Reigate Division).
Major John Baker White, County of Kent (Canterbury Division).
Brigadier John Selwyn Brooke Lloyd, C.B.E., County of Chester (Wirral Division).
Sir William Harold Webbe, C.B.E., Borough of Westminster (Abbey Division).
Lieutenant-Colonel Dennis Coleridge Boles, County of Somerset (Wells Division).
Flight-Lieutenant Charles Challen, Borough of Hampstead.
Major Roger John Edward Conant, County of Worcester (Bewdley Division).
William Henry Kingsmill, esquire, County of Somerset (Yeovil Division).
George Buchanan, esquire, Burgh of Glasgow (Gorbals Division).
Richard Rapier Stokes, esquire, Borough of Ipswich.
Francis George Bowles, esquire, County of Warwick (Nuneaton Division).
Arthur Montague Frank Palmer, esquire, Borough of Wimbledon.

Stephen Owen Davies, esquire, Borough of Merthyr Tydfil (Merthyr Division).
Captain Geoffrey Henry Cecil Bing, County of Essex (Hornchurch Division).
Sydney Herbert Smith, esquire, Borough of Kingston-upon-Hull (South-West Division).
Group-Captain Clifford Arthur Bowman Wilcock, O.B.E., A.F.C., Borough of Derby.
John McGovern, esquire, Burgh of Glasgow (Shettleston Division).
Sir Ernest Gordon Graham Graham-Little, M.D., F.R.C.P., M.R.C.S., University of London.
Sir John Boyd Orr, D.S.O., M.C., the University of St. Andrew's, the University of Glasgow, the University of Aberdeen, and the University of Edinburgh.
Sir Alan Patrick Herbert, University of Oxford.
Henry Wilson Harris, esquire, University of Cambridge.
Commander Arthur Marsden, R.N., County of Surrey (Chertsey Division).
Major Peter Geoffrey Roberts, Borough of Sheffield (Ecclesall Division).
George Harold Oliver, esquire, County of Derby (Ilkeston Division).
Henry Berry, esquire, Borough of Woolwich (West Division).
James Haworth, esquire, Borough of Liverpool (Walton Division).
Major Wilfrid Foulston Vernon, Borough of Camberwell (Dulwich Division).
William Henry Mainwaring, esquire, Borough of Rhondda (East Division).
Garry Allighan, esquire, County of Kent (Gravesend Division).
Thomas Ellis Naylor, esquire, Borough of Southwark (South-East Division).
Morgan Philips Price, esquire, County of Gloucester (Forest of Dean Division).
Ivor, Thomas, esquire, County of York, West Riding (Keighley Division).
Andrew Gilzean, esquire. Burgh of Edinburgh (Central Division).
Stephen James Lake Taylor, esquire, County of Hertford (Barnet Division).
John Faithful Fortescue Platts-Mills, esquire, Borough of Finsbury.
Cyril Walter Dumpleton, esquire, County of Hertford (St. Albans Division).
Mont Follick, esquire, County of Leicester (Loughborough Division).
Albert Raymond Blackburn, esquire, Borough of Birmingham (King's Norton Division).


David James Williams, esquire, County of Glamorgan (Neath Division).
Wing-Commander Ernest Rogers Millington, County of Essex (Chelmsford Division).
Colonel Oliver Brian Sanderson Poole, O.B.E., County of Salop (Oswestry Division).
Colonel Oliver Eyre Crosthwaite-Eyre, County of Hants (New Forest and Christchurch Division).
Henry Channon, esquire, Borough of Southend-on-Sea.
Harold Anthony Nutting, esquire, County of Leicester (Melton Division).
Arthur Beverley Baxter, esquire, County of Middlesex (Wood Green Division).
Lieutenant-Colonel David Archibald Price-White, T.D., Caernarvon Boroughs.
Eleanor Florence Rathbone, the University of Durham, the Victoria University of Manchester, the University of Liverpool, the University of Leeds, the University of Sheffield, the University of Birmingham, the University of Bristol, and the University of Reading.
Hugh Nicholas Linstead, esquire, O.B.E., Borough of Wandsworth (Putney Division).

Sitting suspended until half-past two o'Clock.

On resuming—

MEMBERS SWORN

The following Members took and subscribed the Oath, or made and subscribed the Affirmation required by Law:

William Denis Kendall, esquire, County of Parts of Kesteven and Rutland (Grantham Division).
John David Mack, esquire, Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme.
Colonel Colin Norman Thornton-Kemsley, County of Aberdeen and Kincardine (Kincardine and Western Division).
Lucy Annie Middleton, Borough of Plymouth (Sutton Division).

ADJOURNMENT

House at its rising this day to adjourn until Wednesday, 15th August, at Eleven o'clock.—[Mr. H. Morrison.]

PLACE OF SITTING

The Lord President of the Council (Mr. Herbert Morrison): I beg to move,
That after this House has returned from attending His Majesty on the day on which

His Majesty declares the causes of his calling this Parliament, Mr. Speaker shall resume the Chair at four o'clock and forthwith adjourn the House, without Question put, to the Chamber at present appointed for the use of the Commons.
I think perhaps it is right in pursuance of my duty to the House to explain the reasons, very shortly, for this Motion which I now submit to the House. The purpose of the Motion is to regulate our proceedings on Wednesday, 15th August, when His Majesty will be graciously pleased to declare the cause of summons of this Parliament.
This is the first occasion since the commencement of the war with Germany on which it has been possible for Parliament to be opened with some approach to pre-war ceremony. On the destruction of our own Chamber by enemy action, the House of Lords generously offered us theirs, where we now sit. A small Chamber, especially provided and equipped, was provided for the use of their Lordships, but it is not large enough to accommodate all who normally attend the opening of Parliament, especially on a full ceremonial occasion.
Before the recent change of Government, it was decided to advise His Majesty to open the first Session of the new Parliament in State, and arrangements were made accordingly. Therefore, His Majesty will, as the House knows, open Parliament on Wednesday, 15th August, in this Chamber, and we shall assemble shortly before eleven a.m. in St. Stephen's Hall, which will be made ready for our use as a temporary House of Commons Chamber.
As is customary, on the return from the House of Lords, the Sitting will be suspended, but to a later hour, namely, four o'clock, in order that this Chamber may be suitably equipped for the use once again of the Commons. The House will be technically in session in St. Stephen's Hall, the Mace remaining on the Table, and the Motion proposes that Mr. Speaker shall resume the Chair at four o'clock in St. Stephen's Hall and that he shall forthwith adjourn the House without Question put to this Chamber, which will, by that time, have been made ready for our occupation. The House will realise from what I have said, that our occupation of St. Stephen's Hall will not be for any great length of time and that we shall return to this Chamber to resume the normal proceedings which follow the


reading of the King's Speech on the day of the opening of Parliament.
I trust that these arrangements will commend themselves to the House generally, as I think they will, as a sensible and businesslike arrangement in the circumstances of the case, and that the House will concur in the proposal I now make.

Mr. R. C. Morrison: I was not quite clear by what method the public or Members of Parliament are to get into the interior of the House, while we are meeting in St. Stephen's Hall. Usually we pass through St. Stephen's Hall into the Central Lobby, but on this occasion it will be impossible to come in that way.

Mr. H. Morrison: I am not quite sure what is the right answer to my hon.

Friend. Presumably there will be some temporary delay in access to the public places in the precincts of this Chamber, but it will not be material and the authorities of the House and you, Sir, I am sure, will do everything possible to get the public admitted as soon as possible. There may be a little delay while the House is actually sitting in St. Stephen's Hall.

Question put, and agreed to.

ADJOURNMENT

Resolved: "That this House do now adjourn."—[Mr. H. Morrison.]

Adjourned accordingly at Twenty-one Minutes to Three o'Clock until Wednesday, 15th August, at Eleven o'Clock.